The 4th Ammendment reads as follows.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
In 1967 the courts decided that the meaning behind the 4th Ammendment was not just to protect places of residence, but also the privacy of an individual, and thus telecommunications are also protected from unlawful search and seizure.
Since then many other laws protecting our way of life have appeared. See if you can count the number of laws the President and his agencies have broken so far this year.
It's quite impressive really, I'm sure that this qualifies for an entry in the Guiness Book of Records. I almost feel like giving him some kind of award for breaking this many laws and we haven't even reached the summer holidays yet..
Anyway here goes..
The US wiretap law, contained in Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 makes it illegal to intercept or disclose the contents of intercepted communications without an appropriate warrant, either for law enforcement purposes, or under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Next we have Congress, who passed the Pen-register statute, which provided that it was illegal to install a "pen register" or "trap and trace" device (a device to record numbers dialed, etc.) without first obtaining a court order after a certification by a federal or state prosecutor, or under FISA.
Don't feel blue Mr President, you're not alone. Title 18 U.S.C. 2702(a)(3) of the Stored Communications Act makes it a crime for phone companies or ISPs to disclose either the contents of communications or non-content subscriber information. It specifically prohibits disclosure of this data to a government entity.
Finally we have the Federal Communications Commission, which mandates that phone companies protect the privacy of customer data, specifically Customer Proprietary Network Information, e.g. the numbers you call, and how long you're on the phone, who you talk to, and when. The statute goes on to say that the phone company can't give out the records of who you've called, or who's called you unless otherwise required by law (which doesn't mean permitted by law, it means they had to hand over your data because a court ordered them to do it).
Ofcourse if you choose to ignore the law, there are the privacy policies of the carriers themselves.
Verizon
"Access to databases containing customer information is limited to employees who need it to perform their jobs - and they follow strict rules when handling that information"
AT&T
"We must disclose information, when requested, to comply with court orders or subpoenas. We will also share information when necessary to prevent unlawful use of communications services, when necessary to repair network outages, and when a customer dials 911 and information regarding their location is transmitted to a public safety agency."
While not laws, the AT&T policy in particular clearly states that they will not simply hand over my information on request, but that some sort of court order or subpoena would be required. So in effect they've broken their contract with me, and I should be able to sue them for it.
A small update, a new CNN Poll has found that 26% of those asked believe that they have been wire tapped, and 63% of those polled believe it's probable that the US government has wire tapped without warrants those with no links to terrorism.
